title: A comprehensive equation for the pulmonary pressure-volume curve.
abstract: Quantification of pulmonary pressure-volume (P-V) curves is often limited to calculation of specific compliance at a given pressure or the recoil pressure (P) at a given volume (V). These parameters can be substantially different depending on the arbitrary pressure or volume used in the comparison and may lead to erroneous conclusions. We evaluated a sigmoidal equation of the form, V = a + b[1 - e-(P-c)/d]-1, for its ability to characterize lung and respiratory system P-V curves obtained under a variety of conditions including normal and hypocapnic pneumoconstricted dog lungs (n = 9), oleic acid-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (n = 2), and mechanically ventilated patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (n = 10). In this equation, a corresponds to the V of a lower asymptote, b to the V difference between upper and lower asymptotes, c to the P at the true inflection point of the curve, and d to a width parameter proportional to the P range within which most of the V change occurs. The equation fitted equally well inflation and deflation limbs of P-V curves with a mean goodness-of-fit coefficient (R2) of 0.997 +/- 0.02 (SD). When the data from all analyzed P-V curves were normalized by the best-fit parameters and plotted as (V-a)/b vs. (P-c)/d, they collapsed into a single and tight relationship (R2 = 0.997). These results demonstrate that this sigmoidal equation can fit with excellent precision inflation and deflation P-V curves of normal lungs and of lungs with alveolar derecruitment and/or a region of gas trapping while yielding robust and physiologically useful parameters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston 02114, USA.
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Venegas
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Simon
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D002138:Calibration; D004285:Dogs; D006801:Humans; D008170:Lung Compliance / Q000502:physiology; D008176:Lung Volume Measurements; D012128:Respiratory Distress Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests / Q000592:standards*